KC Streetcar construction begins in River Market

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The streetcar rolls on with a new phase, beginning construction in the River Market.

Lane closures began Tuesday on Delaware Street.

This phase includes prepping the tracks for the streetcar which will connect downtown Kansas City with the River Market. However, businesses near the river are bracing themselves.

The River Market is a noisy place but the clatter of dishes quiets as the sound of construction intensifies.

George Cascone, owner of Cascone’s, explained, “It's usually so loud in here you can barely hear the orders coming in and screaming from the girls coming in, but now it's just totally switched around because they're just so tired of putting up with the construction.”

Cascone’s opened in 1930, but even the Kansas City staple has had a hard time.

“They could shut down that section easily, there's like 55 seats up there and there's not one soul up there and it's all due to this construction,” said Cascone about the restaurant’s dining room.

Private utility work caused congestion near the City Market before. That will continue through the fall while Streetcar Constructors work in the same area.

Now driving down Main Street there are construction cones all the way from Union Station to Cascone’s in the River Market.

“I’ve been coming down here for years,” Bill Ballard, a Cascone regular, said. However, even he’s had a hard time getting in the door. “It's tough getting in and out and they're still digging holes out there.”

But Cascone is optimistic the streetcar will help business in the long run. “Once we get through the construction part of it I'm thinking it's going to be a lot more pleasant, a lot nicer down here, I'm sure it will be,” said Cascone.